A couple of hours ago, the European Parliament adopted the latest edition of what could only be described as politically-driven witch-hunt against Hungary. In their resolution, the EU’s notoriously anti-Hungary assembly calls on the European Commission to freeze all EU funds which are, by the way, legally due to Hungary.
Ironically, the EP’s renewed offensive comes at a time when the Hungarian government, as Justice Minister Judit Varga detailed in her op-ed on EURACTIV last week, completed not one, not two, but 17 requirements laid out previously by the European Commission in the areas of transparency and anti-corruption measures. This includes the establishment of an Integrity Authority to intervene in all cases where competent authorities have not taken the necessary steps to prevent, detect and correct fraud; the convening of an Anti-Corruption Task Force, and substantial amendments to our Criminal Procedure Code.
It seems, however, that all this was not enough to satisfy our opponents in Brussels and Strasbourg.
It’s almost insulting how the EP’s left-liberal majority timed its witch-hunt against Hungary during a period of economic turmoil, war on the EU’s eastern flank, energy crisis and drastically increasing energy prices. The saddest part of the whole story is that left-wing Hungarian MEPs have practically voted for – albeit not for the first time – keeping legally due EU funds from Hungarian people, in a shameful attempt to court the EU’s liberal mainstream.
Whatever. I guess we should’ve grown used to this kind of treacherous attitude in the last 12 years, but somehow they still manage to surprise me.
On a different note, the content of the European Parliament’s resolution is not the least bit surprising. We have known for the better part of a decade now that if it were up to the EP, Hungary would not get a single dime from common EU coffers. And it’s fine, really.
Luckily, these people don’t really get to decide on who gets what. They are merely grasping for more power in a complex institutional structure that has been designed to ensure the smooth cooperation of national governments, not to enforce the will of a select few on countries whose national interests dictate otherwise.
By keeping up their push for having the EU punish Hungary (and, to a certain extent, Poland) because we dare to hold different views on a list of issues, the EP’s left-liberal majority is undermining the very cooperation it has been intended to serve.